Former Premier Sean Chen advised the financial authorities to amend the banking regulations to allow the non-banking entities to provide micropayments and small sum foreign exchange services. Chen touted ideas of relaxed banking rules with the hope of boosting Taiwan’s competitiveness and business vitality.

Speaking on the bank reform as a guest speaker at the Taiwan Academy of Banking and Finance (TABF) Thursday, Chen considered Article 29 of the Taiwan’s Banking Act as outdated, which prohibits non-banking organizations from accepting deposits or handling domestic or foreign remittances. According to Chen, the rule was made with reference to Japan’s banking law, which was replaced by a more relaxed new rule in 2009. Under Japan’s new rule, foreign currency exchange can be processed through non-banking entities under specified amount of money.

Chen added that small deposits and small exchange businesses should not be limited to bank service providers. He took example of Alipay, an online payment escrow service in China, as an example, saying the expansion can create more business opportunities for Taiwan under appropriate supervision.